Athens feels like a safe place to be and a great place to walk.
Mistake No. 1: Feelings aren't facts and those facts are about to make you look at Athens just a bit more carefully - and maybe uncomfortably.
Whenever you relax and develop a carefree comfort level on any college campus is the exact time when you are at a higher risk of serious threats. Most of these risks, which have to do with OU students, are associated with doing what OU students do often and best: walking everywhere.
Nearly 5,000 freshmen students are without cars on this campus. Yet, no matter the class level, most OU students opt to travel by foot at some point in their day. Most do so without a care in the world. And that is why, surprisingly, those students who excel both athletically and academically are among the first to act blindly while walking home.
The Ping Center and Alden Library are both great places to walk home alone from late at night. That is, if your name is Hulk Hogan. The American College Health Association reported that about two-thirds of college student violent crimes (63 percent) were simple assaults no matter the time of day. Meanwhile, just across the street, off campus, most of the violent crimes (72 percent) occurred between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. Compare that to the 50-50 chance of the majority of on-campus violence occurring between 6 A.M. and 6 P.M.
Now, don't lose your heads yet. On average only 6 percent of students will be assaulted in a given year, but nevertheless, such a risk is noteworthy.
Walking and running to and from the library or Ping can make you vulnerable to attack, but there is also the faulty logic applied to counting on cell phones as a security link. Talking on the phone is distracting. No matter what the topic of discussion is, being unaware of your surroundings while walking home alone at night is just plain dangerous.
Given the post-dinner timing for most off campus violence, it would be reasonable to assume that walking alone to or from an off-campus party is like carrying a brightly blinking neon sign that reads Attack Me! One might think that walking at night with one other person, no matter who they are, wipes that look of potential victim off you, but it only just slightly dims that flashing neon sign around your neck.
The ACHA found that, of all violent crimes, 93 percent of which are committed off campus, rape (or sexual assault) is the only violent crime that will most likely be committed (79 percent of the time) by someone you know. It's akin to the old adage about the hen house being guarded by the fox. So ladies, that big strong male whom you thought you really knew as you were walking (or stumbling) home from an off-campus party might just present the bigger risk than the danger you don't know.
Oh yeah, and now that your male companion is beginning to make you a bit edgy, here's one more reason for concern: according to the ACHA, male college students are twice as likely to become the No. 1 victim of violence compared to their female counterparts. So if you are relying on your big, strong boyfriend to keep you safe, it's more likely to be your big strong boyfriend who gets taken out by an even bigger and stronger male.
The solution to anyone's potential campus violence victimization is a little dose of paranoia. Not enough to send you crawling up the walls with anxiety, but sufficient enough to increase your awareness to add a friend or two to your late night trek home. In a panicked situation, imagine the strength that a little self-defense and a pepper spray key chain have in a group of five instead of just one.
So don't panic ...yet, about walking around campus ... unless of course you're alone ... and reading this while walking home.
Jessica Beinecke is a freshman journalism major. Send her an e-mail at jb275005@ohio.edu
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Jessica Beinecke
